Bronx grade-school teacher admits she’s ex-hooker — and flaunts it

Today’s New York Post splashes the story of a Bronx grade-school teacher who isn’t shy about telling the world that she’s a former stripper and prostitute who advertised on Craigslist.

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Melissa Petro went public in a big way this month, writing a Huffington Post post expressing disappointment that Craigslist had given in to pressure and taken down its adult services section:

“For all the ‘victims’ of the ‘adult services’ section of Craigslist.org, I would venture there are a considerable number of individuals like myself — free thinking, entrepreneurial human beings with choices and responsibilities — whose real-life experiences, not to mention sources of income — are being stifled by our so-called advocates.”

According to the Post, the school district has known for a while about the background of its 30-year-old teacher. Petro refused a sympathetic administrator’s informal request that she publish under a pseudonym. In other words, she was pretty much asking to get fired from her $61,000 a year job at P.S. 70, which probably doesn’t match her income from her former careers. Thus far, she’s been put on administrative leave pending investigation.

Even before her blog post, Petro hardly hid her background — New York magazine notes that she’s tried to get attention in several ways, including this 2009 video in which she reads an essay about her experiences as a 19-year-old stripper in Mexico.

The best quote in the Post story comes from a parent.

“I don’t want nobody that used to do that to be around my kid,” said Grace Ventura, whose son is in third grade.